Summoning voices and tales from more than 100 years ago in Kirksville and Adair County, actors from Curtain Call Theatre brought local history to life.

The actors were part of the annual Cemetery Theatre presentation at Forest-Llewellyn Cemetery in Kirksville over the weekend, portraying key historical figures from a young teen fighting in the Civil War to a house wife sharing her family's history of service.

The presentations are done over the gravestones of some of the city and county’s most famous residents, including the man for whom Kirksville was named and the cemetery’s first burial of “a traveler” to the family plot of osteopathic medicine founder Andrew Taylor Still.

About eight actors from Curtain Call, dressed in period costumes, presented their unique views of history, with scripts culled from letters and historical accounts of both the Battle of Kirksville and local Adair County history.

The program has been held annually since 2005 and was conducted this year as part of the Fourth of July’s Red, White and Blue festival.